Unexpected Build - Thoughts

[HerrDeacon]

I was originally planning on building a new PC in the Spring of 2020 but last weekend the PSU on my 10+ year old Dell i7 920 died so I decided to move it forward instead of sinking more money into the Dell. With Black Friday coming up it may have died at a good time. 

 

The main reason I was going to wait until Spring was that even though I've been using PC's for over 20 years I haven't really dealt with the hardware aspect of computers in quite some time and I wanted to give myself plenty of time to do some research and get back up to speed on all the new terminology. I guess I'll now have to get up to speed quicker now. Started reading right after my Dell died and at first it was pretty overwhelming but after a while things started to sink in (I think anyway). 

 

So, I've pieced together what I think would be something that could work for me and I'd really appreciate it if someone could check it over. As I said, all of this is very new to me so feel free to suggest any changes. 

Here are some details on what I need with this build:

 

Budget: $1000 Canadian - some wiggle room but would like to keep it as low as possible. I already have a monitor, mouse and keyboard. I'll also be using the SATA SSD (512 Gb) and HD (1 Tb) from my Dell.

 

Use Case: Do everything machine: internet (a lot of open tabs), watch media, graphic design apps (Photoshop, Affinity, Sketchbook) and gaming (primarily FPS like Borderlands 1 and 2, Half Life, Portal, etc. I only ran older titles on my Dell since it couldn't run newer titles so I'm looking forward to being able to play more modern games)

 

Other requirements: I've been dealing with slow storage and load times all my life so I definitely want fast storage and quick load times (hence the NVME). Also, as you can tell from my Dell, I tend to keep my PC's a long time. So I'd like to get known reliable parts even if it means paying a bit more and if the PC has a bit of an upgradability (CPU and GPU) that would also be great. 

 

Concerns: During my brief research I read that some motherboard were not equipped to work with the new Ryzens and would need the BIOS updated prior to using a new chip. I don't have access to an older Ryzen chip so its important that the motherboard I get is ready for the newer Ryzen right out of the box. Am I right in saying the Tomahawk Max is good to go?

 

Here is what I've come up with so far:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($253.96 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($149.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($94.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 590 8 GB PULSE Video Card  ($259.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.00 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $1047.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-21 12:55 EST-0500

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[dizmo]

Build looks fine. I'd probably throw on an aftermarket cooler.

You're waiting until Black Friday I hope? Honestly, I wouldn't even bother looking at parts until then.

Then, go through, pick out what's on sale, and build from there.

 

Some other tips:

• The 970 EVO is expensive, and you can get similar speeds from cheaper drives. I'd go at least 1TB, while it's cheap.
• You can easily get away with a 550w PSU, if one should go on sale for significantly less.

[Indus Monk]

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

• The 970 EVO is expensive, and you can get similar speeds from cheaper drives. I'd go at least 1TB, while it's cheap.

Would it make a difference in performance over something like an 860 evo? or any other non nvme drive thats also m.2?

[Vishera]

This one is better:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$169.00 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$149.99 @ Newegg Canada
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$100.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Kingston A2000 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$54.99 @ Amazon Canada
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$49.99 @ Newegg Canada
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB OC Video Card	$319.00 @ Canada Computers
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox MB511 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$129.99 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$79.00 @ Newegg Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1072.95
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1052.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-21 13:24 EST-0500

 

[Skipple]

8 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I'd probably throw on an aftermarket cooler.

If you are worried about the stealth cooling a 3600 you might as well get a 3600x and spire.

 

[Skipple]

6 minutes ago, Vishera said:

This one is better:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$169.00 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$149.99 @ Newegg Canada
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$100.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Kingston A2000 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$54.99 @ Amazon Canada
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$49.99 @ Newegg Canada
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB OC Video Card	$319.00 @ Canada Computers
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox MB511 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$129.99 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$79.00 @ Newegg Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1072.95
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1052.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-21 13:24 EST-0500

 

Why did you downgrade the SSD just to give them another TB HDD? They don't need it.

 

Also there are many reason I would try and stick with the 3600 for these use cases posted.

 

You spent an extra $50 on the case?

[dizmo]

5 minutes ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

Would it make a difference in performance over something like an 860 evo? or any other non nvme drive thats also m.2?

No. M.2 is simply an interconnect, it has no improvement on performance.

4 minutes ago, Vishera said:

This one is better:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$169.00 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$149.99 @ Newegg Canada
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$100.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Kingston A2000 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$54.99 @ Amazon Canada
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$49.99 @ Newegg Canada
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB OC Video Card	$319.00 @ Canada Computers
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox MB511 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$129.99 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$79.00 @ Newegg Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1072.95
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1052.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-21 13:24 EST-0500

Eh, yes and no. The 2600 is pretty far behind the 3600 in terms of performance...though the 1660Ti is definitely a nicer card.

It'd likely perform about the same, and the storage options are worse.

4 minutes ago, Skipple said:

If you are worried about the stealth cooling a 3600 you might as well get a 3600x and spire.

Noooo. The price difference isn't worth it. You're better off getting an aftermarket cooler. The Spire cooler isn't that great, and the 3600 will perform the same as the 3600x. It's a waste of money.

[Skipple]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

It's a waste of money.

Perhaps it's my location but there is only a $10 difference for me. 

$190 vs $200.

[Indus Monk]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

No. M.2 is simply an interconnect, it has no improvement on performance.

Does having NVME prove advantageous?

[Indus Monk]

15 minutes ago, dizmo said:

• You can easily get away with a 550w PSU, if one should go on sale for significantly less.

I think he'd save like 20CAD with that?

 

Money you could put in cooling?

[Vishera]

Just now, Skipple said:

Why did you downgrade the SSD just to give another TB HDD?

 

More capacity.

1 minute ago, Skipple said:

Also there are many reason I would try and stick with the 3600 for these use cases.

 

A difference of $100 doesn't justify the difference between 3600 and the 2600.

2 minutes ago, Skipple said:

You spent an extra $50 on the case?

Significantly better airflow and the case come with all the case fans you need.

[dizmo]

4 minutes ago, Skipple said:

Perhaps it's my location but there is only a $10 difference for me. 

$190 vs $200.

Ah, yes with sales right now there's probably much less of a gap. But a $35 cooler will blow the Spire out of the water.

3 minutes ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

Does having NVME prove advantageous?

Depends on the use case, if you're moving large files a lot then it might. But in day to day use, it's hit and miss.

It really comes down to price. If it's only a little more, then I'd probably get it, but if you're looking at a 500GB drive vs a 1TB drive for about the same price, I'd take more capacity.

1 minute ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

I think he'd save like 20CAD with that?

 

Money you could put in cooling?

Yup, and the chance to save even more during Black Friday. It'll be interesting to see what Memory Express's sales are like, they're generally quite good.

[Vishera]

5 minutes ago, dizmo said:

The 2600 is pretty far behind the 3600 in terms of performance...though the 1660Ti is definitely a nicer card.

It'd likely perform about the same

Nope,the RX 590 is even worse than the normal 1660,and it doesn't work that way.

7 minutes ago, dizmo said:

and the storage options are worse.

More capacity,SSD for OS and HDD for games.

[Skipple]

8 minutes ago, Vishera said:

More capacity.

They already have an additional 1.5TB.

Weighing another 750gb on HDD or another 256gb on my NVME, I will take the NVME option every time. 

8 minutes ago, Vishera said:

Significantly better airflow and the case come with all the case fans you need.

Personal opinion, I know, but I really don't care about case airflow. Have minimal impact on anything. I would take that $50 and throw it back at the CPU. 

 

8 minutes ago, Vishera said:

A difference of $100 doesn't justify the difference between 3600 and the 2600.

Stolen from reddit. Up to personal opinion what the justification is: 
 

System specs

• AMD Ryzen 5 2600 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Scythe Fuma Rev. B
• 2 x 8 GB Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4-3200 CL16
• Sapphire Pulse RX 580 (OC'd to 1450 core/2150 mem)
• ASRock B450M Steel Legend
• 480 GB Kingston SSDNow M.2 SATA
• Silverstone ET750-HG 750W

Game settings

• PUBG - Very Low, 1080p, 70% render scale
• Witcher 3 - Medium, 720p

Benchmark Results

Geekbench 4	Ryzen 5 2600	Ryzen 5 3600	% difference
Single-core pts	4656	5521	+18.6%
Multi-core pts	22651	28217	+24.6%

 

PUBG	Ryzen 5 2600	Ryzen 5 3600	% difference
Average FPS	115	147.5	+28.3%
0.1% low FPS	45.8	69	+50.7%
1% low FPS	76	96.5	+27%
Min FPS	92.2	123.4	+33.8%
Max FPS	134	172	+28.4%

 

The Witcher 3	Ryzen 5 2600	Ryzen 5 3600	% difference
Average FPS	102.7	128.3	+25%
1% low FPS	61.1	94.3	+54.3%
0.1% low FPS	12.1	70.3	+481%
Min FPS	83.4	112.8	+35.3%
Max FPS	117.9	149.3	+26.6%

[Indus Monk]

Just now, Vishera said:

More capacity,SSD for OS and HDD for games.

The SSD is inferior quality. A 970 samsung is MUCH nicer. Also, why did you choose a 3600 kit? Wouldn't that make almost zero difference?

[Skipple]

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

But a $35 cooler will blow the Spire out of the water.

Not going to disagree with that at all but I question why you would want to do that. If the temps go from 65 to 55 underload... Why would you care? You aren't going to be OCing a Ryzen 3rd gen chip anyway. 

[Indus Monk]

4 minutes ago, Vishera said:

the 1660Ti is definitely a nicer card.

It'd likely perform about the same

Its a bit faster

[Skipple]

Just now, AmbarChakrabarti said:

Its a bit faster

I think the point is that at 1080p60 you wouldn't notice. 

[Indus Monk]

2 minutes ago, Skipple said:

Not going to disagree with that at all but I question why you would want to do that. If the temps go from 65 to 55 underload... Why would you care? You aren't going to be OCing a Ryzen 3rd gen chip anyway. 

Its always nice to have the option right?

[Skipple]

2 minutes ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

Its always nice to have the option right?

No, it's not. You shouldn't be overlocking Ryzen 3rd Gen. 

You are shooting yourself in the foot vs PBO

[dizmo]

10 minutes ago, Vishera said:

Nope,the RX 590 is even worse than the normal 1660,and it doesn't work that way.

More capacity,SSD for OS and HDD for games.

Largely depends on the title. The RX590 is often within a few frames of the 1660Ti. Throw a worse CPU into the mix, and it comes out ahead, or at worse, on par, and it's significantly cheaper.

 

250GB is borderline too small, and not everyone wants to run off an HDD; as he stated in his post, he's looking for faster storage.

6 minutes ago, Skipple said:

Not going to disagree with that at all but I question why you would want to do that. If the temps go from 65 to 55 underload... Why would you care? You aren't going to be OCing a Ryzen 3rd gen chip anyway. 

It has to do with boost clocks. You see a noticeable performance hit when going from even a cheaper aftermarket solution to the stock cooler. I don't have any links, but it's what II found when I was researching how well the stock cooler performed. GamersNexus also echos the fact that the 3600x is a waste of money, and an aftermarket cooler is a much better choice (albeit at regular pricing, not BF pricing).

 

I don't see why you're saying you shouldn't OC Ryzen. It OCs fine, especially the non X chips.

[HerrDeacon]

Wow, thanks for all the responses everyone, great info, really appreciate it. 

 

Yes, I'll definitely be waiting until Black Friday. I have a Macbook as well so I can take my time with this build. 

 

I really wasn't sure on the power needs so just picked a 650W PSU. If I can get away with a 550 then I could save a few dollars there. 

 

Regarding the storage I have plenty of it for my needs so I really just need to buy a NVME for this build. Besides the internal SSD and HD I mentioned above I also have another 5 Tb external (for backups) so no need to add any more at this point. 

 

The reason I went with the 500 Gb Samsung was largely just on the brand name (just based on my inexperience with computer hardware) and me not knowing the other brands really well. Like I said, I want to buy as reliable parts as I can, but if other NVME's are just as reliable I'd definitely want to swap in a Tb if I can get one fairly cheap.

 

Any recommendations on an aftermarket CPU cooler? I won't be overclocking anything in this PC.

[Skipple]

18 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I don't see why you're saying you shouldn't OC Ryzen. It OCs fine, especially the non X chips.

if my understanding of Ryzen is correct...PBO and AutoOC is better when a traditional OC. 

[Vishera]

Just now, AmbarChakrabarti said:

The SSD is inferior quality. A 970 samsung is MUCH nicer. Also, why did you choose a 3600 kit? Wouldn't that make almost zero difference?

 

3 minutes ago, Skipple said:

but I really don't care about case airflow. Have minimal impact on anything.

 

Just now, AmbarChakrabarti said:

Its a bit faster

 

4 minutes ago, Skipple said:

Stolen from reddit: 
 

System specs

• AMD Ryzen 5 2600 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Scythe Fuma Rev. B
• 2 x 8 GB Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4-3200 CL16
• Sapphire Pulse RX 580 (OC'd to 1450 core/2150 mem)

 

My comment is a face palm on all of these replies

I really don't have the energy to explain it all.

It's time to call the experts of the forum: @LukeSavenije @GoldenLag @Jurrunio

 

 

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

The RX590 is often within a few frames of the 1660Ti.

That's wrong.even the 1660 beats the RX 590.

 

6 minutes ago, Skipple said:

They already have an additional 1.5TB.

Fair point

[Vishera]

My revised list:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$169.00 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$149.99 @ Newegg Canada
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$100.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Kingston A2000 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$80.98 @ Amazon Canada
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB OC Video Card	$319.00 @ Canada Computers
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox MB511 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$129.99 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$79.00 @ Newegg Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1048.95
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1028.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-21 14:18 EST-0500

You could also upgrade the CPU to a 3600 for $100 more.